[wplug] Ubuntu + Steam: both recommended!

[Justin Smith]

Hey, have any of you had a chance to play around with Steam for Linux? 
It's available in the Ubuntu Software Center, or you can grab a .DEB 
from http://store.steampowered.com/about/.

I installed Ubuntu 12.10 on a spare partition both to try Steam and see 
how far Ubuntu has come since I first tried Unity. I have to say, I'm 
impressed on both counts.

Everything in Ubuntu feels so...connected. My email, IM, and social 
media notifications are all available through the Unity mail widget. I 
can search through everything I have, including online storage like 
Google Drive, with the Dash. They've even added the ability to sync 
packages between computers in the Ubuntu Software Center! This is light 
years ahead of what I'm used to.

I've also found myself using the HUD more than I thought I would. It's 
particularly handy when paired with LibreOffice since I sometimes forget 
where things are located in the menus.

Did you know that Team Fortress 2, one of Valve's most popular games on 
Steam, is free as in beer? If you've never played it, TF2 is a 
first-person shooter with a very comical edge. It's easy to play and not 
very resource-intensive. Better yet, if you start playing TF2 on Linux 
by March 1st, you get a free Tux doll you can equip on your character! 
Don't /you/ want to carry Tux into battle?

There are a lot of ways groups of people can play on TF2. If you don't 
feel like playing against other people, you can team up to take on the 
computer in a special survival mode! We should get a group together and 
do that some time. We should have a WPLUG steam group, too!

Anyhow, I'll stop my rambling here. Just thought I'd share my thoughts 
in case any of you were curious.

-- 
*Justin Smith*
Vice chair/secretary, WPLUG Board of Directors
http://www.wplug.org